CHICAGO — Robert (Bob) Scaman Jr. admits that when he named his company “Goodness Greeness” 24 years ago, he didn’t foresee how relevant the name would become.

In 1991, Scaman’s “concept was to build a market around the distribution of certified organic produce.” At that time, he added, “certified organics didn’t exist in this part of the country. In 2002 the USDA defined organics.”

CHICAGO — Dominating one end of the Chicago International Produce Market is the full-service produce house J.L. Gonzalez Produce Inc. The company’s predominant brand is “Don Hugo,” which is for Mexican produce shipped through Edinburg, TX.

“This facility is nothing compared to what we have in Edinburg,” Jose Gonzalez II said, pointing to his cavernous Chicago facility. The firm has various produce supply connections in Mexico. Its Chicago offerings include 10 modern banana-ripening rooms.

Bill Vogel, president of The Vision Cos., which is comprised of both Vision Import Group, headquartered in Hackensack, NJ, and Vision Produce Co., headquartered in Los Angeles, said that Mexico is a difficult mango program to navigate.

“Matching what they have to what is needed in the marketplace is a challenge,” said Vogel. “However, we have been developing grower direct arrangements there for a number of years, and are now fortunate to have some real high-quality relationships with partners for the growing and packing for our ‘Van Gogh’ brand of mangos.”

Dan Wohlford, national marketing representative for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, said the harvesting window for the 2015 Northwest cherry crop will be compressed. “A warm spring brought on cherry blooms about a month earlier than the average for the last 15 years,” he told The Produce News. “However, May weather patterns have adjusted the start date to a little closer to normal, but still much earlier than previous years. The warm spring also brought trees to bloom at the same time across all growing regions.

Even though cherry volume from the Pacific Northwest is expected to be down by about 15 percent this season, Eric Borton, vice president of international sales and marketing at Borton & Sons Inc., said prospects in 2015 are exciting.

Columbia Marketing International encourages retailers to prepare for a high-energy marketing window this cherry season.